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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29817039">A Boat in the Borderlands</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brokenrook/pseuds/Brokenrook'>Brokenrook</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>due South</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drowning, Ghosts, Love Confessions, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Post-Episode: s04e12-13 Call of the Wild, Ray-centric</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:27:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,967</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29817039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brokenrook/pseuds/Brokenrook</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ray wakes up in a canoe with Fraser's father he has many questions, but Bob Fraser only has one for him. Are you ready to go on?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Benton Fraser &amp; Ray Kowalski, Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Boat in the Borderlands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm not totally sure about how I feel about this story. I have been trying to write shorter stories and focus on giving them a beginning, a middle, and an end, instead of just writing a single scene, but I think I still need some more practice. Regardless, I hope this is at least somewhat enjoyable!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Like many mornings since he’d left Chicago, Ray was roused by singing. At the beginning of their Arctic expedition, he had found it a little freaky, because while Fraser had an arresting voice, he also had a penchant for songs about death and heartbreak, which was not the vibe Ray was going for at six in the morning. But he got used to it, and eventually found comfort in waking up to Fraser’s rendition of The Cremation of Sam McGee. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>~“...Courageous at first we took their worst, our positions we held stout...”~</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Except this time it was not morning, and Ray did not feel comforted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>~“...We clung to belief and we hung on the speech from our trusted leaders' mouths...”~</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What’s going on?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ray thought groggily, as he tugged his hand out of his sleeping bag to rub at his eyes. The air was bitterly cold against his skin. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Did Fraser already leave the tent?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>~“...Overwhelming odds and a hopeless cause and our cities overrun...”~</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span> If he’s outside why can I hear the words so clearly? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then Ray froze as the realization set in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>~“...There were them that said we was badly led and God were we outgunned...”~</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That wasn’t Fraser’s voice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bolting upright, Ray fumbled as the canoe- </span>
  <em>
    <span>the canoe?!?!</span>
  </em>
  <span>- pitched wildly beneath him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Woah there, Yank, you’ll pitch us both into the drink if you don’t calm down.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray spun to face the speaker and was met with a weathered old man in the most ridiculous fur hat he’d ever seen. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who the hell are you?!” Ray burst out. “Where am I?!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Calm down, this coat isn’t waterproof.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where’s Fraser?” Ray asked, suddenly a hundred times more panicked than he had been a moment ago. His eyes scanned his surroundings wildly, but there was no Mountie or even a shoreline in sight, only endless miles of inky dark water bounded by slate-grey sky. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m Fraser.” The man replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like hell you are!” Ray lunged for the man but found that his legs were still tangled up in his sleeping bag.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m Fraser,” The man repeated. “Constable Bob Fraser, Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bullshit!” Ray shouted, still trying to get to his feet without ending up in the icy water. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can assure you, I know my own name. I’m dead, not senile.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope, no way,” Ray shook his head. “Frase said his dad was killed on some glacier, you can’t be here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where do you think here is, exactly?” The man asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray didn’t answer the man, he was too busy trying to get his heart to slow down so he could focus on getting away from this lunatic and finding Fraser.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you’re thinking of jumping out of the canoe, I advise against it. You don’t know cold till you are submerged in that water. It could kill a man, Stanley.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How do you know my name?” Ray asked sharply.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man rolled his eyes. “You’ve been my son’s partner for over two years, of course I know your real name.” Then under his breath, “It’s not like Benton ever shuts up about you.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not important, the point is that I am who I say I am, and we have more pressing issues to deal with.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nuh-uh,” Ray shook his head. “I’m not going to believe that you’re Fraser’s father just because you know my name. Tell me something about Fraser that only you would know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You really are a most difficult person to have a conversation with. Now I understand why Benton still keeps that wolf around.” The man mused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, you listen to me you-“ Ray began but was cut off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The otter.” The man said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The </span>
  <em>
    <span>what</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The otter. You asked me to prove that I am Bob Fraser. Benton has a scar on his chest from where a bully in elementary school hit him with a dead otter. He was ten, and still hasn’t quite gotten over it. A bit embarrassed, I suspect, and rightly so. Is that proof enough for you, Yank? I could continue to list scars. For instance...” The man droned on, but Ray was preoccupied with losing his mind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Holy shit,” Ray breathed. “Holy shit holy shit holy </span>
  <em>
    <span>freaking</span>
  </em>
  <span> shit-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, this isn’t the time for such coarse language,” The man-</span>
  <em>
    <span>Bob</span>
  </em>
  <span>-admonished. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you serious?” Ray said incredulously. “I think now, of all the fucking times, is the time for some coarse language. And for a bloody strong drink.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” Bob muttered, obviously irritated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Huffing, Ray crossed his arms. “So if you’re really Fraser’s father, and you’re dead, does that mean that I’m in heav...Jesus Christ, am I dead?! Holy mother of God, I’m dead! I can’t be dead, I don’t even remember dying I-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh for Pete’s sake, would you put a cork in it? You aren’t dead.” Bob rolled his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Really?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, probably.” Bob amended.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Probably?!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bob shrugged. “It’s hard to be certain, this is the Borderlands after all. Or I suppose more accurately, the Borderwaters, but I digress, you probably aren’t dead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you are dead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very,” Bob confirmed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And I’m not?” Ray said slowly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Bob answered, in a tone that was just ever so slightly patronizing. “Not yet at least.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yet?” At the pace Ray’s heart was beating, he doubted he would ever need to do cardio again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well yes, you have a decision to make. That’s why you’re in the Borderlands.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A decision?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, you have to decide if you want to go back, or if you want to go forward. Are you ready to go on?” Bob said like it was the simplest thing in the world. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope, nu-huh,” Ray said, shaking his head vehemently. “That’s not how this works.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How what works?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Death."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, because you know more about death than a dead man?” Bob said, incredulous.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know that you don’t get a choice, cause if you did, nobody would ever die.” Ray pointed out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I see your point,” Bob admitted. “But it isn’t quite that simple.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course it isn’t,” Ray sighed. “So are you going to tell me what’s going on then?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m trying, if you’d only let me speak for more than thirty seconds without interrupt-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray cut him off with a snort. “Now I know where Fraser got his attitude from.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you quite finished?” Bob gave Ray a hard look, and Ray closed his mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And where Fraser got his deadly look of disapproval.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you. Now as I was saying, it isn’t quite so simple. It isn’t an easy choice between life and death.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh yeah, it is. What is life for two hundred? Next question.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If it was possible, Bob looked even more put out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t understand. Not everyone passes through the Borderlands, just a select few.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then why am I here?” Ray asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Only you know the answer to that. What is holding you back and what is pushing you forward?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray bit his lip. “What’s waiting for me if I go on?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s the ultimate question, isn’t it?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know that people look relieved when they walk away, and I know they never come back,” Bob answered, saying the last part almost to himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Silence fell over the canoe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray found himself staring at Bob. If he looked close enough he could see just a little bit of Fraser in his face, in the curve of his jaw, or even perhaps in the glimmer of his eye. It was strangely comforting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, God</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Ray thought suddenly. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’ve forgotten about Fraser. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why isn’t Fraser here? Where is he?” Ray asked again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why do you ask?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because if I died something really bad must have happened.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bob shrugged. “I’d assume at the moment he’s wherever you are.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But I’m here.” Ray pointed out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wherever your corporeal self is.” Bob clarified.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My corporal?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Corporeal,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Bob corrected. “Your body.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh.” This calmed Ray slightly. “That’s good, I mean, that means he’s okay, or that he's alive at least.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“At the moment, yes.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray nodded. “Okay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ve got to decide soon,” Bob said. “It gets hard to go back very quickly, and becomes a challenge to go either direction eventually.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is that what happened to you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bob didn’t answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you stuck here forever?” Ray prodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not forever,” Bob said sharply, though he didn’t sound totally confident. “For the time being.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How long will that be?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Bob admitted. “This place really isn’t too bad though, I get to spend my days in nature and I get to guide others, and that’s enough Heaven for me. Also, I get to watch out for Benton.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The final comment struck a nerve in Ray and he couldn’t help but scowl. “I don’t think Fraser needs you watching out for him now. Maybe you should have thought to do that when he was a kid and, I don’t know, had just lost his mother and needed a parent?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A flicker of hurt crossed Bob’s face, but it was gone as quick as it came, only to be replaced with a grim expression. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You aren’t wrong, Yank,” He said. “And I regret that every time I speak to Benton.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray nodded thoughtfully, then stopped when his brain fully registered what Bob had just said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Speak? You </span>
  <em>
    <span>speak</span>
  </em>
  <span> to Fraser?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, to be perfectly honest, I’ve spoken to him more in the last five years than I did in the last decade of my life.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And he can hear you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I would assume so, or he wouldn’t answer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>He answers?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Suddenly two years worth of memories of walking in on Fraser arguing with the wall, or hearing him mutter under his breath made a lot more sense.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And we all thought he was cracked,” Ray said with a laugh of disbelief. “All this time he’s been talking to you. Which is weird, don’t get me wrong, but at least it's one less argument for the loony bin.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bob just huffed a laugh and looked out over the water as if he was searching for something. Ray tried to see what he was looking for, but could not see anything more than water and grey sky. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you looking at?” Ray asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m looking for Benton."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you said he was with my body?” Ray was confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, but it’s only a matter of time before he realizes where you’ve gone, and tries to follow.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Ray’s stomach turned to lead and any modicum of calm he had accumulated since waking up in the canoe evaporated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bob gave Ray a look like he was contemplating tipping him out of the canoe. “Good Lord, for such a good cop, you are truly clueless. I don’t know what my son sees in you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t understand.” Ray was shaking his head like it was a broken etch-a-sketch. “What do you mean follow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know what I mean,” Bob said, his voice hard. “He’ll lay down beside you, and he won’t get up, and the cold will carry him here during the night.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instantly, Ray could see it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fraser, with milk-white skin and lips as blue as his eyes, and eyes</span>
  </em>
  <span>-oh his eyes-</span>
  <em>
    <span> as empty and as lifeless as the Arctic surrounding him. </span>
  </em>
  <span>The image made his stomach turn. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no, no, no,” Ray said, almost like a mantra. “Not Fraser, he would never.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For you, he would.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray couldn’t believe what he was hearing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He won’t, he can’t. He can’t.” Ray felt like a broken record. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bob looked at him again, this time with more pity than anything. “When has Benton ever let you go where he can’t follow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But, but...that would be suicidal!” Ray couldn’t believe what he was hearing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And what was it on the Henry Allen?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That was...that was...” Ray threw his arms in the air. “That was some do-good Mountie bullshit. Standard procedure to save Chicago flat-foots from watery graves or something-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t have saved you,” Bob interjected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t understand, Yank. No one would’ve saved you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, thanks! That makes me feel so much better!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Calm down,” Bob said sharply. “Any logical person would’ve left you for dead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray scowled. “Fraser’s the most logical person I know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, he is. But for Benton, logic goes out the window when he’s in love.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray’s heart stopped. “I-I don’t under-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Save your breath,” Bob snapped. “My son has been infatuated with you since he first saw you, and in love since you first opened your stupid mouth. He’s been mooning over you for going on two years now..”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t-“ Ray began, but Bob was not done.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But of course you wouldn’t notice, because he’s terrified that if you ever found out you’d be disgusted by him, and he’d lose the most important friendship he’s ever had. So he’s settled with being near you, loving you from a distance.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray's thoughts were flying by him like cars on the interstate. He could barely read the license plate on one before the next one was whipping by him. Only a single, solitary thought hung around long enough for him to latch on. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fraser loves me.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And now he’s going to sacrifice everything to keep following you,” Bob continued. “To keep following someone who can never love him that way.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stop! Just-stop,” Ray burst out. “You don’t understand. I love him. I’ve loved your son since we drove that stupid burning car into Lake Michigan, and if that doesn’t prove I’m crazy for him, nothing will. Why do you think I stayed in the Yukon Territories? Do you think I like going to bed wondering if I’ll freeze to death or if I’ll be an hors d’œuvre for a polar bear? No! I stayed because when I tried to imagine my life in Chicago without Fraser all I got was static!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray’s outburst echoed over the water for five tortuously long seconds, until Bob broke the silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then why are you still here?” He asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray stared out across the water. A fog had begun to roll in, further obscuring the horizon that Ray searches for in vain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How do I leave?” He asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think you know.” Bob looked meaningfully into the nearly black water sloshing gently against the canoe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray’s eyes widened. “I thought you said that water is cold enough to kill?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why would that matter to you? You’re dead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Probably dead.” Ray corrected, not looking away from the water. In his head, he could hear Fraser’s ever-calm voice. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Bloom, close, kick’em in the head. Bloom, close, kick’em in the head.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, okay, okay.” Ray shakily pulled himself up to his feet and then crouched down like a runner at the starting line, his hands gripping the side of the canoe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ray, one more thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, you really should know this by now.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray didn’t dignify that with a reply and instead returned his full focus to the inky water in front of him.</span>
  <em>
    <span> I’m coming, Fraser.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Crouching down even farther, Ray leaned back. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Just stay put a little longer. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then he launched himself out of the canoe and into the water.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Cold was an understatement. When Ray hit the water he felt like every ounce of warmth had been leached from his body. Instantly, his muscles tensed, the air rushed out of his lungs, and his limbs felt like molten lead. Gasping involuntarily, frigid sea water poured down his throat and into his lungs, stinging like wasps the whole way down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m drowning</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Ray thought wildly. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m drowning</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Bloom, close, kick’em in the head. Bloom close-goddammit! I’ve got to move, I’ve got to swim, I’ve got to get to Fraser, I’ve got to-I’ve got to...to.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ray kicked out but was rapidly losing strength. He surfaced once, then went under, then came up again, took a single, desperate breath, went under, and did not resurface. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“Ray.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ray.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ray, please, please, oh Lord, </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span>-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dimly, Ray was aware that someone was touching his face, but his skin was so numb it felt like butterfly wings against his cheek. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you hear me? Please, Ray, just open your eyes.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Easier said than done.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ray’s eyelids felt like they were made out of cement. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Anything, please Ray. If you can hear me, please.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Groaning, Ray attempted to lift his head but found it too heavy to move.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Frase?” Ray managed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ray!” Fraser’s voice was washed with relief, but still frantic. “Oh, Ray I’m so sorry, I should’ve known, I should’ve warned you. I-I-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With great effort, Ray forced his eyes open a crack to see that Fraser was hovering over him, his face a mask of panic. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Frase, what happened?” Ray’s voice was hoarse and cracking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The ice, you were walking ahead of the sled and it broke.” Fraser was shaking his head, almost like he was trying to dislodge the memory. “I turned to Dief for a moment, and when I turned back you were falling. I swear, I only looked away for a moment, then the ice broke and...” Fraser’s breath came out ragged. “And I couldn’t get to you before you began to sink. I’m so sor-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Frase,” Ray interrupted. “It’s okay, I’m okay...We’re okay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no you’re not.” Fraser’s eyes were wide. “We have to get you dry, we have to get you warm. You could’ve died, you still could die-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not going anywhere,” Ray said softly, trying to lift his hand to Fraser’s face. “And neither are you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fraser nodded quickly, wrapping his hands around Ray’s outstretched one. His gloved hands were so warm against Ray’s skin that it felt like he had put his hand directly into boiling water. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Ray didn’t pull away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn’t going to pull away ever again.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>1)Yes, technically The Cremation of Sam McGee is a poem, not a song, but I don’t see that stopping Fraser from finding a way to put it to music.<br/>2)The song Fraser Sr is singing at the beginning is called “I Wanna be in the Calvary (reprise)” by Corb Lund. It has no real significance other than it seemed like a song he would like.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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